1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus, an image reading method, an image processing system, and a storage medium, and particularly to an image reading apparatus connected via a network such as the Internet, an image reading method, an image processing system, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a system in which a printing apparatus or scanner apparatus is connected to an information processing apparatus using various interfaces such as USB, Ethernet®, and wireless LAN is effectively used in various scenes such as a home and office. Examples of apparatuses included in the system are a PC, a smartphone, a portable telephone, a TV, a printer, a multifunction peripheral, a facsimile apparatus, a scanner, a digital camera, and a combination thereof.
At present, various services are provided using the Internet. The services include a web service that causes a server connected via a network to control a printing apparatus or scanner apparatus and provides the functions/services of the scanner apparatus or printing apparatus to a user via the network.
Such a web service uses a system in which image data generated by a scanner apparatus is processed not only in the apparatus main body but also by a connected server (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-289500). In addition, there is a system that automatically decides which server should perform what kind of image processing in the system (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2012-238980). There also exists a system that, in an environment where a scanner apparatus and a server have the same image processing function, causes the server to perform image processing if the load on the server side is not more than a threshold, or performs image processing on the scanner apparatus side otherwise (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-248527).
However, scanner apparatuses or printing apparatuses connected to a server are not of the same model, and these apparatuses have various image processing functions. In addition, the image processing functions are prepared on the server side in some cases but not in others.
The techniques disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2004-289500 and 2012-238980 are used only for control of image processing on the server but do not assume the above-described situation. Even if an intended image processing function is prepared on the printing apparatus or scanner apparatus, it is unusable on the server side.
In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-248527, in a case where the load of the server is light, image processing is always performed on the server side. For this reason, image processing functions prepared on the printing apparatus or scanner apparatus are not used.